


the things that bind us

by moongirls



Category: Sense8 (TV), Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo, The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Sense8 (TV) Fusion, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fantasy Racism, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Mystery, Polyamory, Pseudoscience, Slow Build, Telepathic Bond, no homophobia in this world because im gay and i say so, tons of it lmaooo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-08-30
Packaged: 2019-07-04 18:43:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15847140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moongirls/pseuds/moongirls
Summary: link /liNGk/:1.(verb)make, form, or suggest a connection with or between.2.(noun)a ring or loop in a chain.in which seven strangers find that they arelinkedin one sense, andlinksin another.





	the things that bind us

**Author's Note:**

> hey! i'm really excited about this fic since i love both sense8 and six of crows with all of my heart! the idea literally came to me while i was trying to sleep on a super long drive and it woke me right up ksdfljsdkf
> 
> i've actually planned out several chapters in advance, so ideally i'd update more regularly, but i do have school, so that plan will. uh. probably not work out. however, i do know where this is going! it's the largest scale fic i've ever attempted and i'm super excited about it!

_I’m sitting in a puddle,_ Alina thinks distantly. The cave floor is damp and the sound of dripping water surrounds their small group.

Next to her, Tolya’s hulking silhouette is barely visible through the darkness. He squeezes her shoulder, as if to remind her that she’s not alone. She smiles shakily, but she doesn’t need the reminder. She can never be alone.

Nikolai’s voice is soft for once as he kneels beside her and asks, “Do you feel it yet?”

“No more than this morning,” Alina replies, trying to keep the tremble out of her voice. If it doesn't come soon, they might be tracked down. She closes her eyes for a moment, and the images flash before her eyes.

_Tolya on the ground, Ivan’s bayonet in his neck. Nikolai’s smile, frozen on his dead face. Aleksander, smiling at her and reaching out a bloody hand._

Pushing away the horrifying pictures in her head, Alina opens her eyes and sets her jaw. This is the most important task of her life. She will not entertain the possibility of failure.

“How much longer will we be waiting?” Zoya’s voice snaps out like the crack of a whip. “This is getting boring.”

For a moment, Alina glimpses Zoya’s surroundings. She’s on a ship somewhere, reclining in a dark cabin, wrapped in a luxurious fur coat. She wears her usual smirk, but it doesn’t hide the worry in her eyes.

“She’s right,” Tamar says, concern creasing her brow. “We haven’t got much time.” Her anxiety pushes at the back of Alina's mind, only kept out by years of practice.

“Not much longer,” Genya says, laying a hand on Alina’s cheek. Though she’s not really there, she feels so real — even after so long, the fact that distance no longer means anything to them still fills Alina with wonder.

“I can feel it,” David says, his voice tense. “I can feel them.”

It’s only after Nikolai’s head snaps up to look at her that Alina realizes that David had spoken using  _her_ mouth too.

“Are— Is it happening?” Nikolai asks. Alina nods. She hadn’t realized it until David spoke, but she can feel the pressure growing in her skull. The long ache that she’s been carrying for nine months is rising to push at the edges of her brain, as if it’s trying to break free.

“What do you need? What can I get you?” Nikolai squeezes her hand. It’s thoughtful, but it’s distracting.

“Just be quiet, Nikolai. Please.”

Dimly, Alina thinks she hears Tolya snort at that.

“You’ve got it, love. Just push,” Genya says, now kneeling next to her and stroking her hair.

No, wait, those are _Tamar’s_ hands in Alina’s hair and _Zoya’s_ voice in her ear, whispering, “You can do it, Starkov. This is no time to fail.”

The dripping sounds of the cave grow and grow, until they become a roar in Alina’s head. The cave’s darkness solidifies, pushing against her eyeballs as Nikolai and Tolya disappear.

It’s only Alina and her cluster and the splitting pain in her mind as her consciousness expands.

The roar in her ears begins to resolve into a flurry of voices. She picks out David’s soft tone, and Tamar’s laugh. For a moment, she thinks she hears Nadia and Harshaw speaking to each other, and tears spring to her eyes. Their cluster has lost so much.

The voices become clearer still, and shapes begin to emerge against the blackness. A deep voice snaps something in Fjerdan, and she knows he’s speaking to his dog — no, wolf. A girl calls out, this time speaking in Suli. One boy’s conversation, in Shu, overlaps with the sound of a flute.

Alina swallows. It’s time.

The pain suddenly peaks, and it feels as though she’s being ripped to shreds, as though Alina Starkov is suddenly ceasing to exist, because she’s not Alina Starkov now, she’s —

She’s Zoya, in the belly of a ship, body lying on the bed, rigid with pain, nails digging into her fists.

She’s Tamar, collapsing to her knees on the side of the road, unable to answer her companions’ terrified questions.

She’s David and Genya, clinging to each other as they both sob and scream and rock on the floor together in a tangle of limbs.

She’s Nadia and Harshaw and even _Baghra_ , who are all somewhere else, somewhere beyond this world, but the pain is so far reaching that they feel it too.

She’s Aleksander, in his carriage, unruffled by the pain, and she feels it as he smirks, as he draws closer.

Then suddenly, she’s someone new, _seven_ someones, and she’s ripped through their lives in flashes, seeing all of them at once. A crowd cheering beneath the tightrope. A field of crops and a flower in her hand. An icy tundra and a wolf looking into her eyes. A bustling, filthy city street, cane tucked under her arm. A bright laboratory, sunlight streaming through the open windows. A large bedroom, the floor strewn with dress shirts and sheet music. A ballroom in the Little Palace, the gilded walls reflecting a different woman’s face.

And then something snaps back into place and she’s Alina again, in the cave with Nikolai and Tolya squeezing her hands. In the back of her mind, she feels David, Genya, Tamar, and Zoya groaning as they, too, recover from the pain. She doesn’t care; she’s succeeded.

Seven teenagers stand in front of her, bewildered and afraid. She’s crying, she realizes. That doesn’t matter now — they’re here.

“I can see them,” she chokes out, still awash in the wonder of birth. “I can see them.”

“Alina, what do they look like?” Nikolai’s voice is urgent, and Alina knows, somewhere in her dizzy mind, that he wants to hear their identifying characteristics, wants to be able to find them quickly, before anyone else does, but she can’t think about that, can’t think at all. She can only feel.

“They’re beautiful,” she says as she gazes at her children, her vision blurry from the tears.

“I’m sure they are,” murmurs a silky voice behind her, and Alina tenses up as a hand touches the back of her neck. He’s here.

“Aleksander, don’t,” she says, her voice finally strong. “Don’t try to find them.”

“Is that him?” Nikolai asks, swallowing hard. Alina squeezes his hand once, a last goodbye. She nods.

Nikolai sets his jaw, tears in his eyes, and gestures to Tolya.

“I won’t need to find them,” Aleksander says, still hidden behind her. “You’ll lead me to them.”

Alina smiles once, as she hears the click of Tolya’s gun cocking. She tightens her hand around the cool metal as he presses it into her hand. She lets her body shake with one sob, one last moment of sorrow for everything she’s giving up, then lifts the gun to her temple.

“No, I won’t,” she says, and pulls the trigger.

 

* * *

 

Around the world, seven people open their eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> please come yell about sense8 and soc on [tumblr](http://brandybuckmerry.tumblr.com) with me


End file.
